Newberry's Win Streak Snapped

HICKORY, N.C. (Newberry College Sports Information) - The No. 23 Newberry Wolves opened the scoring, but five straight Lenoir-Rhyne touchdowns gave the hosts a 35-14 win as the Bears held on to the Bishops Trophy for the third straight season at Moretz Stadium on Saturday.

Newberry sees its season-opening winning streak snapped at six games. The Wolves are now 6-1 overall and 4-1 in South Atlantic Conference play, while Lenoir-Rhyne is now 6-1 overall and 4-0 in league play. The Wolves host undefeated and top 10 UNC Pembroke for a 6 p.m. kickoff next Saturday.

Lenoir-Rhyne's stout defense limited the Wolves to only one offensive touchdown in the game, but it was the Wolves' defense that made the first impact on the game.

Following an errant pitch by L-R, linebacker Dominique Walker (Rock Hill, S.C.) scooped up the ball and scampered 75 yards for a touchdown to put the Wolves up 7-0 with 5:28 to go in the second quarter.

From there, the Bears' rushing attack kept the clock and the chains moving. Isaiah Whitaker scored touchdowns of 19 and three yards to give Lenoir-Rhyne a 14-7 halftime lead. The hosts then took the opening kickoff of the second half and went on a long drive capped by a Miles Freeman touchdown to make it 21-7.

Newberry went three-and-out and a 7-play, 56-yard Lenoir-Rhyne drive ended with Whitaker's third touchdown of the day from 14 yards out to make it 28-7. Newberry was unable to gain a first down in the third quarter and Freeman scored for the Bears on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 35-7.

The Wolves' offense threw an interception, but the Bears were unable to connect on a field goal to extend the lead.

Raleigh Yeldell (Johnston, S.C.) took over a drive and put the Wolves on the board with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Byron Dickerson (Atlanta, Ga.) with 9:50 left in the game. The Wolves forced L-R to punt and were driving again before another Bears' interception snuffed out the drive. The Bears were able to kneel out the clock and hand Newberry its first loss of the year.

Lenoir-Rhyne held onto the ball for 36:22 and ran the ball for 428 yards on 74 carries. Newberry ran only 51 plays and were limited to 275 yards - 61 on the ground and 214 through the air.

Jason Livingston (Conway, S.C.) had six receptions for 60 yards and was the Wolves' leading rusher with 22 yards. W.T. Murden (West Columbia, S.C.) completed 11-of-18 passes for 157 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Yeldell completed 7-of-10 passes for 57 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Kyle Clark (Beaufort, S.C.) had six punts for 39.3 yards per kick, but was wide on a long field goal in the second quarter.

Defensively, Walker led all players with 12 tackles and the long fumble return for a score. Taylor McDonnell (Bluffton, S.C.) had 11 tackles, Mike Hopkins (Blackstock, S.C.) had nine stops. Jerry Sanders (Clover, S.C.) and Alstevis Squirewell (Great Falls, S.C.) each had tackles for loss.